Thursday, May 1, 2008

Busy Day in Philly

Yesterday the Philadelphia City Council held a public hearing to discuss the feasibility of a bike-sharing program. Philly.com reports:

"There was consensus in a City Council hearing yesterday that a shared-bicycle program in Philadelphia would help clear traffic congestion, reduce air pollution and improve the health of the people doing the pedaling.

"The question now: How to put such a program in place?

"One approach is to create a nonprofit agency to buy and service the bicycles and install racks across the city where they will be stored.

"That model has been used by PhillyCarShare, a nonprofit that allows members to use cars parked in designated spots.

"Another approach is to strike a deal with a company that services 'public furniture' - bus shelters, subway stations, public toilets and newsstands - to manage the bicycles program."

Surely more to come...

There's a great 1-minute video from JCDecaux on the development, construction, and implementation of Velib' here.

A brief update on D.C.'s program: 7 of the 10 stations are constructed. The goal is to launch later this month as soon as the remainder of the stations are up and on-line. Can't wait. (I spoke recently with New Hampshire Public Radio about D.C.'s upcoming program.)